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* Newspaper blogs are often used as dumping grounds for quotes and items that don’t make it into the print version. I tend to enjoy those online items more than the resulting stories. Here’s one from the Trib’s blog quoting the governor’s spokesperson about his demand that legislators meet five days a week during June. The grilling is exquisite…
Rebecca Rausch, the governor’s spokeswoman, said Blagojevich spent the weekend in “countless meetings” about the budget in Chicago and was in Chicago again Monday. She brushed aside questions about why Blagojevich was not at Monday’s announcement, saying, “Well, he’s working. He’s got a lot of things he’s got to do. He is governor.”
When pressed on whether the governor would be in Springfield five days a week during the budget crisis, Rausch said: “Again, I can’t speak to the governor’s whereabouts for the next 30 days.”
Asked whether the governor would call a special session to keep lawmakers in Springfield until a budget is worked out, Rausch said: “I think all options are on the table. But, you know, lawmakers come back to town tomorrow. So we’ll just see how it goes.”
* None of those priceless quotes made it into the Trib’s dead tree version, which focused instead on the Republicans’ newfound Statehouse influence…
House Republican leader Tom Cross will enter budget negotiations Tuesday facing Democrats who didn’t want him in the room, and he will carry the agenda of a party that has been entirely shut out of the last two state spending plans. […]
The GOP wish list that Cross carries is most heavily focused on what Republicans don’t want. His top concerns are blocking tax hike proposals and resisting expensive new programs like Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s health-care initiative.
* The Daily Herald went with an AP version of yesterday’s Blagojevich staff announcement for their newsprint edititioned, but managed to get this tasty little tidbit into their bloggy type thing late yesterday…
Obama, until the end of 2004 a state senator, was asked about the overtime session in Springfield, where his party controls the House, Senate and governor’s mansion yet still couldn’t get a budget passed on time. And Obama was asked about his political patron, Senate President Emil Jones, and how he handled ComEd electric rate hike relief. Here’s Obama’s response to the latter question:
“I apologize, guys, but I really have not followed closely what’s been happening in Springfield. I’ve had a little bit of other stuff to do,” Obama said.
* So, how did spokeshumans for the Democratic legislative leaders react to the governor’s announcement? Not exactly positive…
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, didn’t commit to attending the governor’s proposed meetings. His spokesman, Steve Brown, said last week’s confrontation between Blagojevich and Sen. Mike Jacobs would make it more difficult to resolve the budget impasse.
“The conduct of the administration has kind of a chilling effect on people sitting down for talks, obviously,” Brown said.
Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, had no comment on the governor’s proposed meetings, a spokeswoman said.
* And Zorn makes some good points about the Jacobs-Blagojevich blow-up in today’s column, entitled “Who’s afraid of governor? Well, no one,” including this one…
The headline here is not that Blagojevich got frustrated in the wake of last week’s legislative impasses and cartoonishly lost his cool in private — if, indeed, he did.
It’s that Jacobs feels so comfortable in relating his tale to the world and in taunting his party’s top elected official with raw, deeply personal insults.
It’s that Blagojevich is so enfeebled he can’t rise even to this challenge.
* More overtime stories, compiled by Paul…
* Bethany Carson: There’s a first time for everything
* Editorial: Spending plan should stick to the basics
* Republicans step into budget talks with their own priorities
* McCarron: Springfield breakdown a Dem disgrace
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 9:05 am
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Regarding the Blagojevich-Jacobs confrontation: My 83 year old father who served in WW II has always been a Republican. Since the Blago/Jacobs story broke, my dad and some of his senior citizen buddies have decided to cast their next votes for Senator Jacobs. Dad lives in Jacobs area and previously he was neutral about him. Now, Dad feels that at last he (and his senior buddies) have found a man who is not afraid to say “NO” to his party’s leadership when his integrity and sense of homor won’t let him.
Senator Mike Jacobs has managed to pull off a brilliant political action which will gain him substantial GOP and Independent votes in his next election. Ironically, Blagojevich and Bush have much in common anymore when it comes to their standings in the polls.
Comment by Beowulf Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 9:24 am
I have a question….Can the IL General Assembly pull a California and impeach (is that the word I am looking for?) Blagojevich just like they did with Gray Davis?
Comment by totally fed up dem Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 9:27 am
wow, was I ever wrong. I though Madigan was trying to pass blame for raising taxes on Republicans. This is more like a game of musical chairs…where is the blame going to land on the dem’s…Hairspray (the governor), Master of the House Madigan, Mr. “Commonwealth Emil” Jones or it may even bite Mayor Richie Delay.
Comment by washmyhands Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 9:34 am
I am praying that Patrick J. Fitzgerald will deliver us from this enfeebled weasel.
Can I get an “Amen”?
– SCAM
Comment by so-called "Austin Mayor" Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 9:38 am
Politics is not so much divided by political party as it is by those who strive to do things as they should be vs. those who would use their empowerment to push a self serving agenda. Those in the former category are often recognized for their lack of political ambition and feeling they were called to a job they really didn’t ask for. Those in the latter category…well, you know it when you see it.
Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 10:15 am
Time for the members to rise up and elect new leadership. Jones and Madigan have been the heads of their chambers for way too long. The members have no one to blame but themselves.
As for the Governor, he continues to mystify me each day with more and more stupidity. At first, I thought it was just bad advice from Tusk and Filan, and then Nix and Filan, however I think he’s just in way over his head.
Comment by Rise Up Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 11:23 am
I’ve seen a question or two in the past about impeaching the governor and read where the Illinois constitution does not provide for this. However, I’ve looked up the constitution and found the following areas to be quite interesting: Article IV, Section 14, Impeachment spells out what the House and Senate do in Impeachment proceedings and halfway through the paragraph the following is stated: “If the Governor is tried” which leads me to believe that an Illinois governor could be impeached by the House and then tried by the Senate.
Article V, The Executive, Section 6, Gubernatorial Succession, states “(b) If the Governor is unable to serve because of death, conviction on impeachment…”
From reading these two Articles/Sections, I see no reason why an Illinois governor could not be impeached. I don’t know about recall though. I’ll keep checking.
Comment by Little Egypt Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 11:23 am
LE, anyone who told you that the governor couldn’t be impeached is incorrect. In fact, by my reading, his agency directors can also be impeached and removed.
But, this subject is not really germane to the discussion, partly because I doubt that Madigan would ever pull such a trigger and that Jones would follow through.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 11:31 am
The Tribune is getting laughable. With most stories of the same line and space count as USA TODAY, with the total lineage of articles (except for the two pages of editorials) being less than or equal to the total lineage devoted to display advertisements, it is evident that the ChiTrib is the world’s heaviest and most pricy shopping newspaper.
The front pages of Section 1 and Metro are chockablock full of stories which could have been ripped from last month’s headlines. Make it up and print it.
Too bad, really, for the paper has many good people as wwell as some who answer to the clarion call of headline searching
Comment by Truthful James Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 12:52 pm
Does anyone know if the governor reported for work at his workplace in Springfield today? And will he be there all week? Or is he just hiding out from the process servers?
Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 1:00 pm
Totally Fed Up Dem,
California Gov. Gray Davis was “recalled” which is different than “impeached”.
CA state law allows citizens to demand a ballot on whether or not a statewide official can be recalled, so long as either enough signatures are collected or enough dues are paid. Conservative Republican Congressman Darrell Issa (a wealthy businessman) footed the bill to get the recall ballot in front of the voters.
The first part of the ballot is a Yes or No question — should the current governor be recalled?
The second part of the ballot is a bit more involved — If the governor is recalled by the voters who should be elected to replace him?
Arnold Schwarzenegger and dozens upon dozens of others (including politicians, vagabonds, other Hollywood actors and/or porn stars) all gathered enough sigs or paid enough money to have their names placed on the ballot for that second question.
This recall election, you may recall, happened in the wake of the Enron-induced energy blackouts and brownouts throughout California, plus their accompanying exorbitant rate increases. Though Gov. Davis was blamed for losing control of the energy grid, we all now know what sorts of fraudulent games Enron was actually up to.
Illinois does not have a recall function, either in our state Constitution or our statutes.
But yes, there is an impeach function written into our Constitution. And as Rich noted, it is highly unlikely the Dem Speaker and Senate President would launch such a political civil war among the party leadership.
Comment by Rob_N Tuesday, Jun 5, 07 @ 3:27 pm